Chess is a well-known game and it is becoming immensely popular among school children of all ages especially elementary age students. It is played between two persons with light and dark pieces commonly referred to as the white and black pieces, or any other two sets of visually distinct playing pieces. The white and black sides each possess 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks/castles, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The standard chess board is an eight-row by eight-column pattern of sixty-four playing squares comprising thirty-two light squares and thirty-two dark squares arranged in an alternating light/dark pattern in each of the rows and each of the columns. In order to render chess attractive to educators as well as educationally meaningful to children, it would be ideal to integrate it with other academic disciplines such as science and math.
In chess, the bishop moves in a straight line only along a diagonal from its previous position. At the start of each game, each side possesses two bishops, one arranged on a light square and one arranged on a dark square. The bishop operating on the light squares is referred to as the light-squared bishop and will remain on the light squares until it is captured. The bishop operating on the dark squares is referred to as the dark-squared bishop and will remain on the dark squares throughout the chess game until it is captured. Unfortunately, it is common among beginners, especially children of young ages, to confuse this diagonal bishop move and place a light-squared bishop, which should only rest on a light square throughout the game, on a dark square adjacent to it. This would be an illegal move in the game of chess. Nevertheless, often during a game between children, one unfortunately finds the two bishops of the same side operating on squares having the same color. This indicates an illegal move was made and was not noticed by either player.
Magnetic game boards and magnetic pieces may generally be divided into two groups, namely those which utilize the power of magnetism for the purpose of its holding power, i.e., to center the game pieces on the board and/or to avoid the displacement or tilting of the pieces during travel or any motion whatsoever. Examples of such games include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,605,703 (Brown), 2,511,774 (Goldsmith), and 4,299,389 (Miolo). The second group of games belongs to those which use the powers of magnetic attraction and repulsion for the purpose of entertainment and to add an element of chance and unpredictability to those games. Examples of such games include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,339,209 (Vensel), 2,809,835 (Berryhill, Jr.), 2,819,904 (Nelson et al.), 3,680,865 (Davis), 4,005,866 (Marcii), 4,013,293 (Hess), 4,021,042 (Sweeton), 4,034,980 (Sniderman), 4,211,411 (McDaniel et al.) and 4,861,039 (Phillips), and British Patent No. 1,049,571 (Ormerod). As discussed in greater detail below, the present invention differs from all of these prior art games in that it utilizes the powers of magnetic attraction and repulsion for educational and instructional purposes as related to the game of chess.
In the prior art related to teaching chess moves, U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,447 (Dudley) describes a technique for teaching the moves permitted for each piece in a chess game. In this technique, each square on a board has a light which is illuminated with an appropriate color to indicate whether that square is a possible move for a piece. Each square also responds to a piece situated thereon such that by viewing the illuminations of the squares on the board, the permitted moves for each piece can be readily ascertained. This technique requires an elaborate specially constructed board with a plurality of electronic connections between the pieces and the board.
In the prior art related to weighted chess pieces, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 361,721 (Schmitthenner). Schmitthenner describes a chess set in which the chess pieces have an ovoid or egg-shaped base and include a sufficiently heavy weight to prevent the chess pieces from falling over by accident or otherwise. The weight may consist of any suitable dense material such as lead or iron. Schmitthenner does not differentiate between the weight to be included in each of the chess pieces.
Reference is also made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,930 (Uvanni) which describes a weighted chess piece including a hollow body having a ballast receiving chamber therein. The set of chess pieces can be custom weighted as desired by the user. However, Uvanni does not mention that the chess pieces can be custom weighted according to their relative or comparative value.
Reference is further made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,801 (Kembar) which describes a chess set in which the volume of each piece is suggestive of its relative power and the mass of each piece is indicative of the impodance of that piece in the game of chess. Kembar does not mention that the chess pieces can be weighted according to their relative or comparative value in accordance with the convention noted above.
It has also been realized to make the height of the pieces in the chess set indicative of their value, i.e., a taller piece has more value than a shorter piece. A chess set exuding this type of construction is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,935 (Graham). However, the height of the pieces is not numerically related to the exchange value of the piece, e.g., in accordance with the convention of assigned values to chess pieces noted above.
With respect to teaching the relative value of the chess pieces in accordance with the convention of assigned values, U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,040 (Samuels) describes an element having an indicia bearing surface which is removably attached to an annular recess on a base of each chess piece. The indicia bearing surface includes the comparative numerical value of that piece in accordance with the convention, e.g., the number 5 in the illustrated embodiment of a rook.
Reference is also made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,781,013 (Von Meyer), 4,326,720 (Erlich), 4,515,371 (Basevi) and 5,502,400 (Silva) which relate to games which apply the principles of magnetism.